A Touch of Firewhiskey
by BeverlyAnna
Summary: A night of drinking alters Lily from her usual put-together self into someone who can't quite make it off the Common Room couch. LxJ
1. Chapter 1

11 P.M. saw the Gryffindor common room filled with noise, sweaty bodies, and a string of seemingly endless shots.

3 A.M. told a different story. It showed a setup of tired bodies strewn on arm chairs, dull laughter echoing from the walls, a fire that refused to give up still crackling, and exhaustion. A fulfilled exhaustion - that kind that only comes about when something has been achieved.

Lily Evans, 7th year and resident Head Girl, had by rare occasion taken part in the night's festivities. She had allowed herself to indulge with her classmates. To forget about the war raging outside the castle walls. To simply be a teenager with no worries beyond the night's end.

Because this was such an unusual occasion for Lily Evans, she had perhaps gotten a bit out of hand. 3 A.M. found _her_ slumped improperly on a couch, clutching a bottle of firewhiskey, with her head dangling off the cushions, and her feet kicked towards the ceiling.

Various friends were splayed out around her, still carrying on raucously, but she'd more or less lost her grasp on reality.

"You know what's fascinating," Lily said, kicking her legs back and forth, "is that when I move my legs like this, the whole room moves with them"

"What's really going to be fascinating is seeing if you're able to stand after this," Peter joked. "How many pints did you have?"

"No pints," Lily said after a long moment of hesitation, taking a swig from the handle of firewhiskey she was nursing. "Mostly just shots. Lots of shots. Everything's been spinning for the last few hours." As she spoke an undignified burp came out, and she lost it in a fit of laughter.

The rest of the crowd joined her. Proclamations were made about what an unbelievable sight this was, how the party had been amazing, how the night was going to go down in the history books. There was an underlying din to the conversation, though, and that was how they couldn't believe James Potter had missed the occasion.

No one knew where he'd gone. He'd left them at 10 o'clock with a confident smile and a promise that he'd be back before daybreak.

He almost didn't make it.

It was 3:45 A.M. when he walked into the Common Room, bleary eyed from lack of sleep, to find that his mates were still lounging, laughing and intoxicated.

Lily had slumped into a state of near unconsciousness, but occasionally an appropriately timed giggled would slip from her lips. James couldn't believe that she was there, let alone that she was apparently so far gone.

He approached the group and cleared his throat. "Looks like you all had quite the night."

"The night is young!" Marlene hiccupped at him. "And anyway, where have you been?"

"It doesn't matter," he shrugged her off tiredly. "But apparently it wasn't anything as interesting as this."

"James?" Lily said through a garbled voice.

"Merlin, Lils," James said, quickly crossing to wear she was curled on the couch. "You look —"

"I feel awfuuul," she said, barely able to pronounce the word she was trilling out.

"Okay," he says, crouching down next to her and taking the bottle of firewhiskey out of her hands, "okay. Let's say you get up to bed?"

She gave him a slight smile, and then reached her hand out to touch his cheek. "You're very nice," she said simply. "Very nice, and very nice looking."

He smiled back at her, and grabbed her hand from off his face. He laced his fingers through hers, and then addressed the group, "Has anyone ever seen her like this?"

"She was fine at first," Remus said. He was reclined with his eyes shut, but apparently awake. "But then Marlene talked her into taking a shot every time she missed you, and she fell apart somewhere after 2:30."

James let out a sigh, and then asked, "Do I want to know what condition Sirius is in?"

"Completely together," Remus replied. "He cut himself off around 1 o'clock. Went to bed. Said he'd take a turn on hangover duty in the morning."

"Great," James said. "That's actually great. And based on the fact that you're not opening your eyes, you are —"

"Everything's a little fuzzy, currently," he said. "Moving seems like an unnecessary activity, so I'll be here for as long as possible."

"The night is young!" Marlene repeated.

Lily squeezed James's hand, and he turned her attention to her. "Bed?" he asked her.

"Bed. Yes. Nice," Lily said with a sloppy smile.

"Alright," he said. "Can you stand?"

"Yes," she said, grasping tightly to his arm and shifting herself so that she was in a seated position. She tried standing, but then swayed in place and crashed back down onto the couch. "No."

"Alright, Lily," he said, scooping his arms around her and heaving her off the couch. "Hold tight, and try not to throw up on me."

He quickly bid the rest of the room good night, and then with solid steps he brought both his exhausted self and Lily up to his dorm.

"So you were taking shots because you missed me?" he teased her as they reached the top of the steps.

"I always miss you," she replied, tracing a finger across his chest.

James mussed her hair, and then said, "I'm honored, Lil."

He struggled to open the door to his room, and as he did so, Lily asked, "Did you, um, do your important thing?"

"My — oh! Yes. And we'll talk about it in the morning when you'll actually be coherent enough to remember it, and I'll be coherent enough to talk about it. Now," he changed topics as he brought them into the room, "we've got to be quiet because if we wake Sirius up —"

"Quiet," Lily repeated through a giggle. "I can be quiet."

"Lily, love, that's quite the opposite of being quiet," James whispers into her ear. He brings her over to his bed and places her down. "Wait here," he told her, drawing the curtains around his bed.

He walked over to his dresser to grab pajamas when Lily called after him. "James," she croaked, "it's very… dark in here."

"That'll make it easier to sleep," James said dismissively. He riffled through the drawer looking for clothes and continued, "I'm going to bring you some water and pajamas, just _please _be quiet."

"Come lie with me," she complained in reply.

"Soon, Lily."

"_James_," she whined his name again. He shut the dresser drawer softly with a Quidditch jersey and a pair of boxers in hand, and then walked back to his bed.

"Get changed, Lily," James told her, passing the clothes over. "I'm going to get you water, so just try and get comfortable."

"But James —"

He pressed a quick kiss against her lips and his face puckered in return. "I'll be right back," he promised, doing his best to ignore the scent of firewhiskey and tequila on her breath.

In the time it took for James to disappear and reappear with a glass of water, Lily had only partially managed to change into pajamas.

"Help," she told James weakly when he arrived. She looked like she was ready to cry.

"Alright," he said, "relax." James placed the water down on his nightstand and then sat down on the edge of the bed. "Arms up, Lily."

She complied to the best of her ability, and after five minutes of fumbling and bickering, Lily was dressed in an oversized Quidditch jersey and a pair of James's boxers.

James handed her the glass of water, and after quickly chugging the whole thing, Lily passed it off to him so that he could put it on the nightstand again.

"Do you need anything else?" he asked her as she cozied herself into James's arms.

"I think sleep," Lily murmured. "Sleep and for you to stay with me."

"I'm right here," he said, wrapping his arm around her tightly.

"Thank you," she replied, snuggling against his chest. "Thanks. I love you, James."

He placed a kiss against the top of her head, and before long she was asleep. Safe, cradled in James's arms. Comfortable enough until the hangover was sure to kick in in the morning.

"Is she asleep?" Sirius asked from across the room.

"Yeah," James said quietly.

"Well, in that case might I suggest you utilize a silencing charm the next time you bring your drunk girlfriend back to the room?"

James stared up at the ceiling, smiling. "I'd apologize," he said, "if she hadn't just told me that she loved me." James started to run his fingers through Lily's hair, amazed that she was dating him. Amazed that she trusted him. Amazed that she loved him.

"She won't remember it in the morning, mate," Sirius said. Still somewhere beneath his groggy voice, you could hear his happiness for James.

"It's good enough for now," he said. Followed quickly by, "Sorry for waking you up by the way."

"It's alright this once," Sirius said. "But we should both get some sleep. I have a feeling that between her and the lads we're going to have our hands full in the morning."

James sighed, but it was content. He wouldn't want to take care of any mess other than his own.


	2. Chapter 2

Lily's fingers gripped tightly around her blanket as she pulled it over her head in an attempt to block out the intruding morning light. It was essentially a fruitless effort, but she wasn't ready to deal with the world outside of her bed.

Everything hurt. Her head was throbbing, her stomach was unsettled, and even her limbs seemed to ache.

She couldn't remember a thing from the night before, but she wasn't sure she wanted to. What she wanted was sleep.

As she laid with her eyes pinched shut tightly, she became aware of the fact that there was a hand on the small of her back. It was a light touch; gentle and meant to be comforting, but it caught her off guard.

Cautiously, she lowered the blanket from over her head. Her first thought was that her bed had moved locations in the room, as it was pressed against a wall without any posters. Her next thought was that this wasn't her bed at all.

A quick survey of the body next to hers proved that she was in the company of one James Potter, and thus very likely it was his bed in which the two resided. While there were certainly worse places she could be, she was highly uneasy about the fact that she could remember nothing of the evening after about 2:30 A.M.

Another moment of observation caused her to realize that the clothes she was wearing were not her own. She was draped in an over-sized Quidditch jersey, and... James's boxers?

A swearword escaped from her lips as she struggled to fit pieces about the night together, but it was such a blur that she couldn't form a cohesive train of thought.

Her expletive was enough to awaken James, and as he stirred, she made sure that she was still well covered by the blanket over her.

She wanted to die. Her cheeks were inflamed from embarrassment, yet she wasn't sure she could even stand to move her body because she was in so much pain.

"Morning, love," James whispered, gently rubbing her with the hand that sat on her back. "How're you feeling?"

"Dead," she said, pressing her face firmly into the pillow. "Everything hurts and... Merlin, James, what happened last night? Last I —"

"Take your face out from the pillow," he suggested, "so that I can actually understand what you're saying."

She obeyed him and rolled over, but she looked straight up and continued to avoid James's gaze.

Once her body had recovered from the spinning motion, she continued, "The last I remember, you weren't even there. How did I end up here?" She cleared her throat and then whispered, "How did I end up dressed like this?"

It wasn't that the idea of wearing James's clothes was off-putting to her - it happened often enough. It wasn't even that he may have been the one to put them on her. It was merely the fact that she couldn't remember, and because of that, the situation was surely mortifying.

James grinned at her, turning himself so that he, too, was looking at the ceiling. He found her hand beneath the blankets and laced his fingers through it. Then he started weaving the tale of how things had occurred the night before. James hadn't been there for the party, but Lily had overindulged. When he found her in the Common Room at nearly 4 A.M., she was quite disoriented, so he brought her up to bed. No big deal. No worries. She wasn't wearing her clothes because he hadn't wanted her sleeping in robes, and she was genuinely touched by the gesture.

"That's it?" she asked, frankly surprised by how controlled the tale seemed. "I didn't do or say anything else that was stupid?"

"Nothing stupid," he said reassuringly, though he did leave out the part where Lily had drunkenly told him that she loved him. That was everything but stupid to him.

"I did hear," James continued, "that you started taking shots because you missed me."

"That's just about the last thing I remember," she mused, shifting her position so that she was on top of James's torso. The motion left her head spinning, but once she stopped reeling, she pressed a firm kiss against the side of James's mouth.

James dropped her hand and instead reached for her chin so that he could redirect her mouth to his. The two carried on for a moment before Lily had to put a stop to things. "James," she said apologetically, "I'm afraid having your tongue crammed down my throat when I'm already feeling nauseous isn't helping me much." She pressed one more chaste kiss to his lips. "I'm sorry."

James chucked as he ran a hand through her heavily tangled red hair. "Lily, you know I'm normally the one suffering through the hangover. No need to apologize."

"Thanks," she whispered, settling her head into the crux of his arm.

"Speaking of hangovers," James replied, continuing to run his hand through Lily's hair, "we've got quite a lot to help with that." James raised his voice a bit to call, "Sirius!"

A minute later, Sirius had pulled aside the bed curtain and was standing over the pair grinning. He was dressed for the day, and light pooled into the bed from behind him, so it must have been quite late.

Sirius cleared his throat, and started with a cheeky, "Good afternoon, Evans. You're looking quite haggard today."

"What time is it?" she asked him, snuggling further into James in order to avoid Sirius's piercing gaze.

"It's a little after one," Sirius replied, "yet somehow you're the first up. I think Moony might be dead. It's a shame, really."

James stifled a laugh, but Lily was clearly unamused. "I can't believe I missed whatever led to this mess," James lamented.

"I can't believe I cut myself off so early," Sirius said, shaking his head in a mockery of despair. There was a beat of silence before Sirius looked back to Lily and said, "Anyway, love, I've got some brews to help you out. Pepperup Potion, Headache Solution, or Impendent Draught. I think you're probably too wrecked for the Pepperup to be much help, but one of the other two should be appropriate."

Lily looked to James for his opinion, as both of these solutions were unknown to her.

"Better get her the Impendent, Padfoot," James instructed. "And while you're at it, check the stock. We might need to get our hands on some more soon."

"You have a stock of hangover draughts?" Lily asked, amused but exasperated.

"Don't question it," Sirius recommended as he strolled from the bed and towards the wardrobe. "Just embrace it." He rifled through a rather impressive stock of potions before pulling out a vial of shimmery blue liquid and bringing it back over for Lily.

"I'd suggest chugging it," Sirius recommended, "it looks pretty, but it's rather unpleasant."

"Lovely," she said, propping herself up against James's chest and taking the vial from Sirius's hand. She tossed it back and nearly gagged on the unpleasant, bitter taste. She cringed as she passed the bottle back to Sirius.

"It'll kick in within the hour," James assured her.

"In the meantime," Sirius picked up, "I'll grab you some food. Any particular desires?"

"Sirius, you don't have to —"

"I'm on hangover duty, Evans. It's my job. I'll pencil you into the next rotation to make up for it."

"Alright then," she said, offering him a smile and collapsing back onto James's chest. "Something bland would be good, I think. Oatmeal, or —"

"You'll change your mind once that draught kicks in," Sirius said. "I'll bring you back the best known cures — oatmeal included."

Lily looked as though she was going to protest, but James spoke before she could interrupt, "You're in good hands, Lil. Relax."

"Relax," she repeated with a heavy sigh, "alright." She closed her eyes and simply allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of James's fingers running through her hair. It was a nice distraction from the way her stomach was churning and her head was pounding.

It was sometime later when Lily realized that her head was getting clearer and her stomach was settling. This change in feeling led to an overall change in her disposition; mainly meaning that she became a little less self-concerned, and a little more interested in the boy on whom she was reclined.

"James," she whispered into his ear, intentionally caressing it with her lip, "tell me about last night."

"I already did," he replied bemusedly. He turned his head so that his lips matched up with hers, and after a prolonged kiss he stated, "It really wasn't as bad as you're imagining it."

"I meant on your end of things," she said, moving away from his face so that she could look at him.

"Ah," James replied, shifting so that he was seated. Lily followed his movements, sitting up to gauge his expression. "It could have been worse."

"What did Dumbledore have you do?" she asked. Prior to his leaving, James had filled her in on the fact that he had been called away by the headmaster, but gave few more details than that.

"Perimeter patrol of the grounds," he said. "Nothing much to worry about. There are a few Aurors moving about here at night, but with the war going on, the grounds of the school have become a little bit less of a priority."

"So you, what, walked in a circle?"

"Precisely that," he replied. "I lurked about the grounds with my wand at the ready for _hours _until an actual Auror showed up to take my place."

"It's weird," Lily mused, a different kind of queasiness taking root in her stomach, "that we could be joining those patrols soon. You know, as official members of a guard and not just because Dumbledore has too much faith in the Headboy."

"Ah," James repeated his earlier sigh, "about that. See, it's not just the Headboy he's got too much faith in. Dumbledore asked me to speak with you and see if you'd be willing to pick up a few patrol shifts, too. It's pretty dull work, and you could put it on a résumé. Plus, I'd be by your side the whole time."

"Good," Lily said, searching for James's hand. "That's good. We make quite a team." She didn't say it this time, because she was sober and thinking more clearly than the night before, but she thought it. She thought about how she loved James Potter. How he was a constant in her life. How he kept her going on days when she didn't think she could make it out of bed. How she would fight a war by his side. How, despite the future's uncertainty, she was sure that she wanted to spend it by his side.

She was still nauseous. Not from alcohol or nerves, but from possibilities. Her head continued to throb, not from the hangover, but from the number of possibilities swirling about in her mind.

She wasn't aware of how out of sorts she must have looked until Sirius returned a minute later carrying copious amounts of food. He looked her over and let out a low whistle. "Maybe I was wrong about the Impendent Draught kicking in, Evans. You still look awful."

She found it interesting to know that thinking about a future with James Potter caused her to look just as ill as a hangover. She tried not to think about what that meant.


End file.
